Training Plans

Do The Plan With Dan: From Zero to Hero in 10 Weeks / 5 Hours a Week.

Plan Length: 10 Weeks

For the past year Dan Lloyd has been living firmly in Couchlandria. The former Cervelo Test Team rider and GCN presenter has been logging more kilograms than kilometers, pounding more pilsners than pedals. Dan woke up New Year's Day with a killer hangover and more than a few regrets. He knew he had to make a change. That's when we stepped in.

To get Dan from zero to hero we called in the big guns: Sir Neal Henderson, coach to athletes like Rohan Dennis and Kasia Niewiadoma and evil genius behind our workouts and training plans. But Neal had a tall order. Dan can only fit in five hours a week of training: four on the bike and one hour off, and only on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. How much fitness can someone gain in 10 short weeks of minimal volume and a little cross-training? It's time to find out.

Misery loves company. Start the new year out right by joining Dan on his 10-week journey to move out of the soft, plushy country of Couchlandria and get back on the path to Honour, Glory, and Victory. Here's how it works:

1. If you haven't already, go to https://thesufferfest.com, download The Sufferfest app for iOS, macOS or Windows and create your account.2. Follow the 10-week plan along with Dan.3.Use the hashtag #DoThePlanWithDan to share your progress on social media and let us know how you're getting on.4. Follow The Sufferfest on social media and stay tuned for weekly videos with coaches Neal Henderson and Mac Cassin where we take a look at the science behind the Suffering and discuss strategies to nail your workouts and stay on track.

Plan Price: FREE

Note: These plans are designed to be used with The Sufferfest Training System. You will need to download and install The Sufferfest for iOS, macOS or Windows to access the workouts associated with these plans. To get started:

Sample Week of Training

Cross Training - Week 10

Cross Training - Pre-Ride Activation

Level: ✭✩✩ This sequence is designed to activate your posterior chain—the calves, hamstrings, glutes, lower, upper and mid-back, as well as your core—the abs and obliques. It’s crucial that you engage these muscles before every ride to give you maximum power, speed and endurance on the bike.

Planned: 15:00

Bike - Standing Starts

Four Dimensional Power Focus: NM: ✭✭✭✭✭ AC: ✭✭✩✩✩ MAP: ✭✩✩✩✩ FTP: ✭✩✩✩✩ Standing starts closely simulate a lifting session on the bike because it requires the engagement of your core, upper and lower body. Standing starts will train your ability to generate force through the pedals by forcing you to recruit all of your musculature. No matter your prefered discipline, these efforts are key to teaching your body to recruit all of the muscle fibers in your legs. The saying “Use it or Lose it” actually does apply here. All of the benefit in this session comes from hitting these 20 seconds effort as hard as you possibly can. To do that, you need full recovery between each sprint, and you need to respect that recovery! These efforts should see you start at super low RPMs with very high torque, as the effort continues your cadence will naturally increase. Your goal is to get your cadence as high as possible by the end of each 20 second effort. To maximize your muscle recruitment you want to both push down and pull up on the pedals at the start. Proper core engagement is a must, your legs need a good strong backboard to push against. We understand that not everyone's trainer has the necessary resistance, or the required stability, to perform this workout as described. For stability issues you can get much of the same benefit by doing these efforts seated. If your trainer can’t handle the rapid change in speed, or does not have high enough resistance at super a super low cadence then you can start the efforts are a higher cadence and simply treat them as “normal” all out sprints.

Coach Comments: This is a session that can be done indoors or outdoors. If done outdoors, come to a slow roll in your largest Chain Ring and your 3rd or 4th smallest cog on your rear cassette. Complete the same set of 4 x 20sec maximal start efforts, with 6-8 minutes of easy spinning between.

Bike - NoVids: Taper Efforts

Four Dimensional Power Focus: NM: ✭✩✩✩✩ AC: ✭✭✩✩✩ MAP: ✭✭✩✩✩ FTP: ✭✭✩✩✩ When it comes to "peaking", or performing at your absolute best on a given day, the key is nailing your Taper. The term "Taper" refers to the time leading up to your target date, where your total volume of training is reduced, but you continue to hit several high-intensity efforts. While there are individual variations in what makes the ideal taper for you, this session has been used by countless professionals leading into the biggest races of their lives. Riders to use this session leading up to an event include world champions Rohan Dennis and Flora Duffy. With 3 sets of micro-intervals (40/20s, 30/30s, and 20/40s) you will be hitting your system with just enough intensity to keep your legs sharp and responsive, without adding any real fatigue to your system. Outside of those 3 sets of micro-intervals, this session is purposefully short and easy. If you are doing this session your event is just around the corner, and all of the important training is behind you. Riding harder or longer today will do absolutely nothing t increase your fitness by event day. in fact, all that would do is increase your fatigue, which will only hurt your performance. This is a preparation session, not a training session!

Bike - Primers

Whether you have power testing, a group ride you want to smash, that event you have been training all winter for, or even just a fun route you want to have a great ride on, this is the perfect session to do the day before. Unlike other Sufferfest videos, this one should not be viewed as a stand alone “training” session, but rather the ace up your sleeve you get to pull out when that big ride comes around. The key to this session is just enough time right around threshold, with sufficient recovery between efforts and a handful of sprints to prime all of your systems for tomorrow's event.

Cross Training - MTP - Event Day: Preparing to Shred Chamois

Bike - Fitness Test: Full Frontal

Full Frontal, the 4DP(™) fitness test, is the only test that exposes every aspect of your unique physiology in a single hour. Developed by elite cycling coach Neal Henderson, founder of APEX Coaching, and based on more than 10 years of testing athletes, this test will provide you with a complete personal power profile and identify your rider type. All you have to do is completely destroy yourself over 4 different efforts: - A pair of 7 second sprints - A 5 minute flat out effort - A 20 minute threshold effort - A final 1 minute killer Once you come out the other side of Full Frontal you'll get your profile and rider type. From then on, every Sufferfest Video will be customized to your abilities to ensure no session is too hard or too easy. Not only do you get customized workouts with Full Frontal, you will also get to see the exact areas where you shine. You will also get insight into the areas where you might need to do some work, giving you the road map of where you should guide your training until your next exposure to Full Frontal.

Plan Designed By APEX Coaching

APEX Coaching has been helping athletes Achieve Peak Endurance eXperiences since 1999. From our humble beginnings to where we are today, we call Boulder, Colorado home. After finishing his Masters Degree at Colorado University – Boulder, Neal Henderson founded APEX Coaching & Consulting. Starting with the name, Neal made sure that the purpose of APEX Coaching was directed to be something much bigger than the coaches behind the athletes, staying away from a self-named coaching company.

APEX exists for development beyond endurance sports. Just as APEX strives to help our athletes achieve their goals, we want our athletes to be outstanding members of the community when their time at APEX Coaching is over. In the end, the growth of endurance sports depends on the quality of the people involved. Just as APEX Coaches are committed to athletic development, they want to grow endurance sports through the quality of the people racing, and behind the scenes.

If you have any questions about Training Plans or the functionality we offer, please don't hesitate to contact us at anytime.

Neal Henderson

Founder of APEX Coaching, member of BMC Pro Cycling Team's Sports Science Team and coach for the US National Team

Train with a Purpose™

Final Surge is dedicated to bringing athletes and coaches of all types the very best online training product on the market. Founded and created by both athletes and coaches, we understand your needs in today's training environment.